Liquid Assets: Tapping the Region's Water Cash Flow

Credit WCPO

In a unique collaboration between members of the WCPO reporting team and the news team of 91.7 WVXU, a week of special reports begins Monday examining perhaps the greatest, most profitable resource in the Cincinnati area: water.

This is the first such collaboration between WCPO and WVXU, and this topic was chosen because of its dramatic impact to this entire region, both in terms of the daily need and use of water, but also because water technology, distribution, and related entrepreneurship is a growing component of the local economy.

The Duke Energy Foundation is handing out grants totaling $500,000 to fund water quality research and STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) education at the University of Cincinnati and Thomas More College.

Each school is getting $250,000.

UC plans to use the money to complete a groundwater quality monitoring station and create a summer environmental research training program for K-12 science teachers.

The Executive Director of Greater Cincinnati Water Works and the Metropolitan Sewer District, Tony Parrot, will participate in a national discussion on U.S. water infrastructure Wednesday in Washington D.C.

Parrot joins the U.S. EPA's Nancy Stoner, Veolia Water North America and Mark Strauss with American Waterin the Value of Water Coalition's national panel discussion to help other communities deal with crumbling water and wastewater infrastructure.

Think of it as a big laboratory where new water technology is tested. The EPA's Testing and Evaluation Center, right next to the Metropolitan Sewer District, played host to a group of people who wanted to figure out better ways to solve their water problems.

Richard Seline with the Texas Water Cluster Initiative and others are now armed with new information after their visit to Cincinnati. He says, "You kind of see around the country who's doing what cool things with technology."